Website Maintenance Checklist: What Should Be Checked Every Month?

Many business owners only check their website after a customer complains that a contact form failed or their browser displayed a "Not Secure" warning.

Through my Website Maintenance Service, I perform a disciplined monthly audit routine. Here is the exact checklist you or your technical partner should execute every 30 days:

1. Complete Offsite Backups

Verify that both your database and your full website files are successfully backed up to an external cloud storage provider (Amazon S3, Google Drive, or offsite VPS). Never rely solely on backups stored on the same server hosting your site.

2. Staged Core & Plugin Updates

If you run a WordPress website (WordPress Development), never click "Update All" blindly on production. Test major updates in a staging environment to confirm that new plugin releases do not break checkout flows, enquiry forms, or CSS styling.

3. End-to-End Form Testing

Send a real test submission through every contact form, quote calculator, and WhatsApp chat link. Confirm that:

• The email notification arrives immediately in your inbox.
• The lead data is recorded properly in your database or CRM.
• The user is redirected to the confirmation / thank-you page.

4. Broken Link & 404 Scanning

Run an automated crawl to identify broken internal links or dead external references. Fix 404 errors promptly to protect your user experience and search crawl budget.

5. Speed & Performance Review

Check Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix. Have team members uploaded uncompressed 8MB photos recently? Optimize new media assets to WebP format to maintain sub-2-second load times.

6. Google Search Console & Indexation Health

Review Search Console coverage reports: are any key service pages showing indexing errors, mobile usability warnings, or canonical anomalies?

7. SSL Certificate & Domain Renewal Watch

Check your domain and SSL certificate expiration dates. Ensure auto-renewal is enabled and credit card details on file with your registrar remain valid.